


Le Papillon's Aftermath

by OverEnthusiastic



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Dimension, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Features my OC's, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Wins, Gabriel is not as bad as he was in canon, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Warnings on specific chapters, rated t for cussing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverEnthusiastic/pseuds/OverEnthusiastic
Summary: A knock sounds out on the door, Sabine coming into the room, "Marinette? Marinette, honey, what happened? Are you okay?""He won!" Marinette sobs out, looking up from her spot on the ground, "He won, Maman.""Who won?"Marinette just buries herself in her mother's arms and sobs, "Le Papillon! We were all fighting him. I had all the heroes out, and then he, he got Chat Noir's miraculous, and Rena Rouge and Carapace were chained up, and Queen Bee was unconscious, and the others were all out fighting all his minions, and there were so many, Maman, so many. And he got my earrings, and then he made his wish. He wished to bring us to a world where his wife didn't die and where the miraculous didn't exist, and he destroyed our old world to do it! He didn't care about it at all, and now Tikki's gone! And everything's different, and we lost, Maman! We lost…"
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this fic! I know I posted a one-shot similar to this a while back, but I actually wanted to expand on the idea, so here we are. This is going to feature quite a bit of my OC's, fair warning.

Marinette bolts awake, shouting out into the room, "No!"

She freezes, when she sees she's in bed, trying to calm her heart rate, before slowly relaxing, "Oh. Oh, thank god. It was just a dream. Tikki? Tikki, I had a terrible dream."

She gets out of her bed, looking around for her friend, reaching up and making sure she's still wearing her earrings, "Tikki? Tikki, where are you?"

Her earrings heat up a bit, but Tikki's not there, and Marinette's room, it's different, very different. To start with, she's got an entire wardrobe in the corner, filled with different styles of clothes, and her computer isn't on her desk, instead there's a tablet where her computer would be, and her sewing machine is there, and there's fabric and half finished outfits all over the place, and they're shimmering with something. All the pictures are wrong too. There are so many people she doesn't recognize in them.

It's all wrong, Marinette's breathing picking up again, tears filling her eyes, "Tikki! Tikki, where are you?! Please come out! Did he… Did he do it?"

Marinette slowly starts to break down at that, falling to the ground and sobbing into her hands, "He won… Everything is lost."

A knock sounds out on the door, Sabine stepping into the room, "Marinette? Marinette, honey, what happened? Are you okay?"

"He won!" Marinette sobs out, looking up from her spot on the ground, "He won, Maman."

Sabine blinks slowly at that, her lips quirking with a bit of amusement, as she settles down next to her daughter, wrapping an arm around her, "Who won?"

Marinette just buries herself in her mother's arms and sobs, "Le Papillon! We were all fighting him. I had all the heroes out, and then he, he got Chat Noir's miraculous, and Rena Rouge and Carapace were chained up, and Queen Bee was unconscious, and the others were all out fighting all his minions, and there were so many, Maman, so many. And he got my earrings, and then he made his wish. He wished to bring us to a world where his wife didn't die and where the miraculous didn't exist, and he destroyed our old world to do it! He didn't care about it at all, and now Tikki's gone! And everything's different, and we lost, Maman! We lost…"

Sabine just sighs softly, as she strokes Marinette's hair, "It's okay, _silly melon_. You're okay. You didn't lose anything. It's just a bad dream. Everything is still here, I promise. Just a bad dream."

Marinette just sobs into her chest, "It was real, Maman! I was Ladybug! And now Tikki's gone."

Sabine just kisses her forehead and coaxes her face up, stroking her cheeks, "Who is Tikki?"

Marinette just sniffles and rubs at her eyes, "Tikki is, or was, my kwami. She was always with me, and she's not here anymore."

Sabine just strokes back her hair, "Fairies don't exist, dear. It was just a dream. You're okay. I know it was a sad dream, but you are okay, I promise. Do you want me to make your favorite breakfast to cheer you up?"

Marinette's heart just sinks at her mom not believing her, rubbing her eyes, "Okay. That, that would be nice."

Sabine smiles softly at that, kissing her forehead, before helping her up, heading to the door to the side, no longer a trapdoor leading to the living room. Marinette immediately starts crying again.

\---

Adrien had a very weird dream last night, waking up and looking around rapidly. He relaxes when he sees he's in bed, sucking in a breath, then letting it out. His room looks a little odd for some reason, but it's not enough for him to care that much, only a little unsettled by it, as he heads to take a shower, expecting Plagg to still be asleep for a while.

He comes out a little bit later, before jumping when he sees two people settled on his couch, one guy and one girl, both with warm brown skin and dark brown, almost black hair, sitting as far apart from each other as they can. He gets a little confused when he can just feel the frustration on them. The guy looks up at that, beaming at him, green eyes much darker than his, but he looks almost related to Adrien somehow.

"Hey, primo. You take so long to shower, we've been out here waiting for you for thirty minutes now." 

The girl scowls at that, her lip curling up in frustration, "Don't antagonize him. He's allowed to take however long he wants, and it's not like the shoot is in ten minutes or anything."

"I'm not antagonizing him. I'm teasing, do you know the difference?" The guy glares right back at her, the air just sparking with anger.

Adrien just stares at the two, "Um, are you the models I'm working with today, and if so, why are you in my room? Are we doing the shoot here?"

The girl tilts her head at that, standing from her spot, "We're your cousins. Are you feeling okay?"

"Um, yes? I don't know you though. I only have one cousin, and his name is Felix." Adrien slowly lowers his arms, thinking back to his dream, fear starting to creep into his chest.

The guy snorts at that, looking back at him, "Funny joke, dude. If you don't want to do the sh-"

"Shut up, Gaige." The girl gets up and heads over to Adrien, reaching out to take his hand and flip it over to tap on his wrist, some sort of lines appearing there, "I'm your cousin, Luiza. It's very expected for you not to know me as well, I'm a little newer, but Gaige has been around you forever. How much do you remember?"

Adrien's breathing quickens, trying not to break into tears, "I-I wasn't-I wasn't dreaming. I-I remember school, my friends, akumas. I remember the battle with Le Papillon; he turned out to be my father. He chained up my friends, sent out so many minions. He just wanted my mom back. I-I thought he was just going to wish for her back again, but he-he wished to bring us to a world where she never got hurt and where the miraculouses never existed. He destroyed our old world."

"Dude, it sounds like you just had a bad dre-" Gaige starts, standing up from the couch, scrunching his nose when Luiza turns and full glares at him.

"Would you shut the fuck up, capullo? You're not fucking helpful." Luiza growls at him, moving to tap on the locket hanging around her neck, "Mami? Can you confirm or deny Adrien's story?"

A woman with very light tan skin and unnaturally black hair steps in the room, her white eyes worried and protective, "Yes. Oh, chiquito, I'm so very sorry. Plagg and the others have been explaining everything since they showed up on my plane. There are so many new people on my plane. There are nineteen of them, Jignesh counted."

She feels overwhelmed, Adrien ignoring it and sighing in relief, giving her a look, "So Plagg and the others are okay?"

Mami looks over at him, then softens, a feeling of gentle love reaching out to him, as she clasps her hands, "Yes, they're okay. Your charms all are still connected to them, Tikki checked. They just can't come visit you guys for a couple days, while their magic charges. And I guess they aren't used to human forms? So they're trying to get used to it as well. Plagg in particular was very worried about you and wanted one of us to come check on you. Luiza, we also need to check on Tikki's keeper. She's been sobbing about it, and I feel really bad."

Luiza nods her head at that, scrunching her nose from side to side, "That changes a lot. Adrien, you said this was Tío Gabe's fault, correct?"

Adrien balls up his fists, nodding his head, before thinking about the reason his father did this, "Is-Is my mother alive?"

Luiza softens at that, nodding her head softly, "We'll talk to her with Tío. Whatever you do, do not tell Tío about Isis, or that you know your guardians are alive. Let me see your charm."

Adrien holds his ring hand to him, glaring her down, "I'm not giving it to you."

"I'm not asking you to, primo. I need to see your charm, so I can make sure it's cloaked right. Tío and Tía will catch it in an instant if not, and they may try to take Plagg away from you. I know them; they're overprotective assholes, and I still haven't convinced them to go to therapy yet." Luiza grumbles, holding out her hand.

Adrien stares at her for a moment, before slowly holding his ring hand out to her.

Luiza inspects the ring, before nodding in satisfaction, "It looks just like mine, good. I'm gonna do something real quick though. Mami, can I get your help? I need to conceal it to make it look like he no longer has the ring."

Mami comes over to her and nods, talking her through it, before lending her assistance, Adrien blinking, when it looks like his ring disappeared.

Luiza makes a proud noise at that, "Alright, no mention of this to Tío and Tía. Isis, thank you. I'll get you, when I'm done here, so we can find Tikki's holder and check on them."

Isis nods at that, leaning over and kissing her head, "Of course, cuervita. I'll see you in a bit."

With that, she steps back, disappearing from sight, Adrien just staring at the space where she was. Luiza just nods and takes his hand, pulling him out to the main house, which looks so much different that it used to.

"Tío Gabe! What did you do to my cousin?!" Luiza shouts out into the house, heading for a livingroom like section, Adrien raising an eyebrow at her yelling.

Emilie ends up coming in the room instead, looking a little exasperated, "Luiza, what happened this- Little kitty, why are you crying?"

Adrien just sniffles, letting go of Luiza's hand and surging forward to hug her, "You're alive!"

Luiza gives Emilie a pointed look, "Tío Gabe destroyed his old dimension because you died in it, and brought everyone here instead. Since Adrien remembers, I can only assume Tío Gabe does too, and I'm going to chew him out, and get Mamá to come and help me force you all into therapy if I have to."

Emilie sucks in a breath at that, narrowing her eyes a little and yelling behind her, "Gabriel, get in here!"

Luiza nods her head at that, while Adrien's just enjoying getting to hug his mother again.

Gabriel walks in the room cautiously, raising an eyebrow at the group, "What happened?"

Adrien just tucks against his mother, while Emilie fixes Gabriel with a saccharine sweet smile, "Love, what did you do? Adrien seems to think I was dead, and Luiza's explaining that you destroyed another dimension because I died?"

Gabriel just sucks in a breath, "Ah, yes? Adrien, how do you remember that? I thought I'd be the only one."

"I was Chat Noir. You kept fighting me everyday, and now Plagg is gone, and I don't have my ring anymore." Adrien's voice stays quiet, his eyes spilling over with tears.

"That, would make sense. I'm sorry you got involved. Do you have this dimension's memories yet?" Gabriel folds his hands together awkwardly.

Adrien just shakes his head, still trying to comprehend the situation. 

Gabriel winces a little at that, looking over at his wife, "Uh, I genuinely don't know what the spell did?"

Emilie sucks in a breath, then lets it out, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I love you, and I understand wanting me back, but yes, I agree with Luiza. We are all going to therapy."

"Thank you. Now, is our photoshoot cancelled? I have other things I need to do today." Luiza crosses her arms, glaring at Gaige, when he speaks up.

"Luiza! Be more sensitive, for the love of our past lives!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you." Luiza steps towards him, eyes narrowed.

"Hey, stop you two!" Emilie glares them both down, the two simmering and looking away from each other, "Luiza, yes, we're cancelling the photoshoot. You're free to leave. Adrien, little kitty, let's go sit down, and we'll check your headspace."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick couple of notes and some translations: Gaige and Luiza speak Esñan, which is honestly just Spanish with a few things here and there tweaked and meshed, so if you notice that there are Spanish errors; yes, I know, and yes, most of them are on purpose. It's an alternate dimension; I'm just too lazy to make a whole other language.
> 
> Primo = Cousin  
> Capullo = Dickhead, Jerk  
> Cuervita = Little crow/raven


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm actually roughly 21,000 words into this story, and it has turned very OC heavy, so I may or may not continue to post it. If I don't keep posting here, then I'll probably just cut the story off a little after it gets into the OC stuff.

Luiza heads straight for the Dupain bakery, nose scrunched up a little at interacting with Gaige's friend, but if she's anything like Adrien, she won't remember at least. 

She slips into the bakery and heads to the counter, ringing the bell. Tom comes out instantly, giving her a soft smile, "Luiza! Good morning kiddo. Come for more of our gluten free muffins?"

Luiza stills at that, her mouth watering a little, as her eyes wander to the case displaying the muffins, before shaking her head, trying to keep herself on task, "No, sorry, M. Dupain. Though your gluten free magdalenas are the best in existence, I actually need to talk to Marinette today."

Tom blinks at that, before just smiling softly and nodding his head, "Of course, kiddo. Just be careful with her; she's been pretty upset this morning."

"I promise you I will." Luiza nods her head to him, heading behind the counter, when he lifts it for her. 

She heads up, smiling softly at Sabine, when she knock on the door to their actual apartment, "Hello, Mme. Dupain. I need to speak with Marinette."

Sabine narrows her eyes at that, raising an eyebrow, "Why do you need to speak to Marinette? I was under the impression that you two aren't friends."

"Has she been talking about someone named Le Papillon destroying her old dimension and taking someone named Tikki from her?" Luiza is not patient, and if anything, she trusts the Dupain's. They treat Marinette and her friends very well.

Sabine's eyes widen at that, the door opening a bit more, "She had a nightmare about it, yes."

Luiza just scrunches her nose and gives Sabine a look, "Not a nightmare. Are you trying to tell me you didn't believe her?"

"I-It's sounds kind of ridiculous, Luiza. It's not a nightmare?" Sabine pales a bit, bringing a hand up to her mouth.

"It's not. You should know to listen to your daughter better." Luiza's lip curls up a bit, before she calms herself, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, "Regardless, I need to speak with her."

Sabine nods her head and opens the door fully, "She's in her room. It's the first one down the hall. Please take off your shoes first."

Luiza nods her head, slipping off her shoes and setting them on the rack, before taking off down the hall. She knocks on the door, only getting a come in in response. She raises an eyebrow at the dark room, when she comes in, the black haired girl having closed all her window covers. 

Luiza flicks the lights on and heads into the room, looking around for Marinette's signature, finding the girl frowning at her from a platform leading to her bed, well off the floor, and in a beautiful position to get to the balcony doors Luiza knows are on her building, having stopped by her balcony as Cuerva a couple times. 

Marinette's aura is just confusion and annoyance. She clearly doesn't recognize Luiza, or it'd be a lot angrier, "Why did you turn on the lights, and why are you in my room?"

"You're Tikki's keeper, correct?" 

Marinette freezes in her spot, her eyes growing big, before she launches herself out up bed and down her stairs, "You know Tikki?! Is she okay? What happened?"

Luiza takes a step back at that, giving a nod and tapping her necklace, "Mami? Mind helping me out here?"

Isis steps into the room and just frowns at her, "Luiza, cuervita, you didn't even answer her."

Luiza just gives her a panicked look, "I don't- She's usually pissed at me. This is weird. And you know what Tikki said."

Isis just rolls her eyes at Luiza, then sighs when she sees Marinette's look of confusion, "Hello, Marinette. I'm Isis, guardian of protection. Tikki has been very worried about you. Yes, she's okay, and yes, you'll get to see her again. She just has to stay on our plane for a couple of days, until they get situated with the magic here."

Marinette's aura just swarms with relief, before a bit of uncertainty seeps in, "Thank goodness she's okay. There's still so much different. I'm angry at you normally? I don't know who you are."

Luiza just looks over at her and nods, reaching up to rub the back of her neck awkwardly, "I-Yeah. I'm Luiza. You're usually angry with me, because you're more of Gaige's friend, and we don't get along well."

"That, doesn't sound like me. I'm not usually angry with people just because someone else doesn't like them. Of course I don't know what the me from here is like. And I don't know if I'm even still her, or if coming here killed her, or what happened." Marinette's aura slowly fills with anxiety and sorrow, threading her hands together.

"Coming here just merged the two of you. Your charm is inhibiting that, a default so you didn't forget what happened, and didn't forget Tikki more specifically. Your guardians added it to all the charms before the wish, when they found our dimension." Isis smiles softly at her, clasping her hands together, "I asked Tikki about it, after we talked to Plagg's keeper. You should be able to just take the earrings off for a couple minutes, and the memories will return."

Marinette's eyes get big at that, immediately moving to take the earrings out. She moves to set them on the table, before full on blacking out.

Luiza dives forward to save her from the floor, slowing moving her to sit in her chair, before looking back at Isis, "Was that supposed to happen?"

"I don't know, probably? If she's not back up in five minutes, we may need to go get Sabine." Isis shrugs her shoulders, closing her eyes for a moment and groaning, "One of the newbies is knocking on my door, and they won't stop."

Luiza snorts and nods her head at that, "You can go ahead and head back. I should be able to handle it from here."

Isis nods and steps back into her plane, Luiza just moving to sit on Marinette's chaise and wait for her to wake up.

It doesn't take long. Marinette wakes not a couple minutes later, then just immediately glares at Luiza, as she puts in her earrings again, "I do not dislike you because of Gaige. I dislike you, because you're an asshole."

Luiza watches her for a moment, then just sighs heavily and shrugs her shoulders, "I didn't know; I just assumed. You're Gaige's friend; he pisses me off. Thinking you didn't like me because of it is just second nature at this point. Are all this dimension's memories settled?"

Marinette just scrunches her nose and nods her head, closing her eyes, then opening them and looking over at Luiza, "Thank you for telling me about Tikki, and how to get the memories back."

"Mostly Isis's doing. She has to stay within ten meters of me whenever she's here, so she couldn't just come tell you herself." Luiza rises from her spot, heading to stand by the door, "Isis said there were nineteen new guardians, and I need to know what you've been dealing with, with them, so there are no surprises for my team."

"We were dealing with Le Papillon sending out akumas and making random people into supervillains, but I, don't think we'll need to worry about that anymore. He got his wish." Marinette stays in her seat, just thinking to herself, "There was nothing else to fight in my dimension, no shadows, nothing like that. The miraculouses were created to fight human battles, to enhance them and keep the world in balance."

"Oh, thank la restida. The shadows are already so much to deal with on their own." Luiza relaxes a bit, looking over at Marinette, before letting out a sigh, "Look, I know you and honestly just about everybody doesn't like me, but if you, or anyone else from your team needs help with this, or anything else to do with your keepers, you can come find me at any time. Mamá knows about this too; they can help as well."

Marinette stills a bit at that, before observing her, then nodding her head slowly, "Okay, thank you, Luiza."

"I genuinely mean it. I know I'm, abrasive to say the least. I'm not good with people, but I'm here if you need help. I know what it's like to have too many responsibilities too soon." Luiza looks over at her sincerely, hand settled on the doorknob, looking so weary and so much more vulnerable than this dimension's Marinette has ever seen her.

Marinette just slowly gives her a smile, "Thank you, Luiza. I'll contact you if I need you."

Luiza just gives a single nod, heading out of the room and back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Magdalena = Muffin  
> La restida = the afterlife (This is one of those words I sorta mashed up. It's not the same in Spanish.)


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette is actually really enjoying getting to live life as a semi-normal teen, after she reaches out to all the other miraculous holders that had their miraculouses at the time, informing them that they'll be keeping their miraculouses permanently, and explaining the memories thing. 

It's so nice not having to worry about chasing after the next disaster that happens, so nice to feel like she doesn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. Marinette is enjoying it, but she really misses Chat Noir. She didn't get to see who he was, so she has no way to find him, without going out as Ladybug, and after she finally got to see Tikki again, she said it might take a little bit for them to be able to go out as Ladybug. Apparently she's still trying to figure that out with Isis.

Marinette stills in her steps, as she heads to school, her heart giving out a sweet beat. She could tell Chat Noir who she is. It's safe now. She beams to herself, crashing right into someone who's stilled at the entrance to her school.

"Adrien!" Marinette's eyes get big, when she sees him, just lighting up, before remembering that she doesn't know him in the dimension, her heart stuttering when he stills, then beams at her, ducking his head a little.

"Marinette! Do you remember me?" 

Marinette sucks in a breath, then nods her head, "Yeah. Do you remember me?"

"Our everyday Ladybug, how could I forget?" Adrien's shoulders relax entirely, before his eyes seem to cloud a bit, "I was worried no one would remember me. At least I'll have one friend."

Marinette shakes her head at that, her eyes lighting up, some of this dimension's confidence filling her, "No, no, Adrien, everyone in our class remembers. We made a club and everything for it. We just thought- I know you're the only one out of us who didn't have a miraculous. We thought you wouldn't remember us."

Adrien balls up his fists, stepping away from her a bit, "It happened at my house. It was my father. I was there."

"Oh, Adrien. I'm so sorry." Marinette's heart goes out to him, reaching out to set a hand on his shoulder.

Adrien looks over at her, relaxing a bit and nodding his head, reaching up to clear a few tears, "At least you guys remember me, and my dad's getting better. Mom's making us go to therapy, and I-I have my mom. She's alive again. It's just, a lot to handle still."

Marinette nods at him, giving him a gentle hug, "Yeah, I bet it is. Do you want to go see the others? We've all sorta been sticking together lately, and everyone will be excited to see you again."

Adrien smiles a bit at that, "Yes, please. Thank you, Marinette."

"Of course. Come on. We're usually in the top floor of the commons building. I'm sure we can even give you a tour of the campus." Marinette heads onto the campus grounds, grinning back at him.

"Primo! Hey! Wait for me!" Marinette hears Gaige's voice from behind them, Adrien stiffening and walking faster, while Marinette just stops, turning to see Gaige bounding over to them like a hyperactive puppy, Nash right behind him like always.

"Hey, Gaige! What's up?" Marinette calls out to him, raising an eyebrow at Adrien groaning.

Gaige full on beams at them, moving to wrap Adrien in a hug, "I didn't know you decided to come to school with us, primo! I would've offered to pick you up and walk with you."

"Gaige, let go of me, please. I don't appreciate the affection." Adrien grumbles, hiking up his shoulders, like he's trying to make himself smaller.

Gaige blinks a little at that, before letting him go, "Oh, sorry. I got excited. Your parents finally let you come to public school! That's so awesome. I'd love to introduce you to all my friends, if you'd like."

Adrien just steps away from him, moving to Marinette's side, "I'd rather not, but thank you Gaige."

Marinette just looks in between the two, smiling softly at Adrien, "Let's get going. I'll see you later, Gaige."

Gaige frowns at that, moving to walk with them, when they do, Nash following and silent still, "Wait, can I hang out with you guys? I rarely get to hang out with Adrien as it is, aside from the stupid photoshoots Luiza started."

Marinette looks over at Adrien, who shakes his head, moving closer to Marinette. Marinette nods her head, taking charge, "No, thank you, Gaige. We haven't seen Adrien in a minute either, and our club is excited to see him."

"Oh, but we can do that together. I'd love to be introduced to your club too." Gaige is steadfast as always.

"How many times does someone have to say no before you'll listen?" Mona's voice calls out from the decorations above the entrance to the commons building, the dark skinned girl full on glaring at him, as she drops to the ground in front of them.

"You stay out of this. Adrien is my cousin, and I want to hang out with him." Gaige glares over at her, crossing his arms.

Marinette would be upset as well, if Mona didn't have a point, finding herself agreeing with the purple eyed girl for once, Mona raising an eyebrow at him, "And he very clearly isn't interested, along with Marinette already trying twice to end the conversation, so they could continue. So I ask again, how many times does someone have to say no, before you'll listen?"

Gaige glares over at her, before turning to Marinette, looking for a bit of reprieve.

Marinette scrunches her nose at that, "I hate to agree with Mona, but she's not wrong. I said no, that means no, so Adrien and I are going to head to our group, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you, Mona. I'll tell him off next time though."

Mona raises an eyebrow at that, before shrugging her shoulders and glaring Gaige down, as Adrien and Marinette walk inside, "Are you going to answer my question, Gaige?"

Adrien sinks in relief, when the doors shut behind them, "Thank you. He's been really affectionate lately, and I can't handle his constant need to be around me and be friends right now."

Marinette looks over at him, then sighs softly and nods her head, "That is a habit of his. He's your cousin in this dimension?"

"He is. Apparently Felix isn't my cousin anymore, but he still exists. I-I needed to check." Adrien reaches up and tugs his hair, his eyes starting to pool with tears again.

Marinette nods her head patting his shoulder softly, "I get that. I keep checking for people I haven't seen too. Did you know M. Ramier, M. Pigeon, he's a teacher here? He teaches elementary school."

Adrien blinks at that, a small smile slipping on his lips, "Wait, really? Does he still love pigeons?"

"Well, they aren't as common anymore, and with all the trees and parks and greenery, now there's all sorts of birds, so he just really likes all kinds of birds. I went and visited him the other day. Weird, I know, but I really wanted to see what changed." Marinette chuckles softly to herself, heading up the stairs with him, "He's got a bird mug one of his students gave him."

"That's awesome. I'm glad he's doing well." Adrien follows after her, his voice a little far away.

Marinette pushes through it though, telling him about all sorts of people, while they head up to the top floor. She opens the door for him and just smiles when she sees everyone settled on the couches in the corner they claimed and chatting, "Hey guys! We've got a new club member!"

Everyone on the couches turns to look at her, a collective gasp going around, before they erupt into cheers. Nino's the first one up, darting over and wrapping Adrien in a hug, "Adrien! Bro, do you remember too?"

Adrien freezes for a moment, before just bursting into tears, crushing Nino in a hug, "Nino! I thought you'd all forget, and you wouldn't know me anymore."

Nino laughs at that, starting to cry now too, "I could never forget you, dude. We were worried you'd forget us."

Adrien shakes his head, dropping his voice to a point that Marinette can't hear it, the girl just moving to sit with Alya. Alya looks over at her, smiling and wiping a couple tears from her eyes, "He remembers too? Did Ladybug give him a miraculous, and we didn't know about it?"

"No, she would've told us. It sounds like Adrien was just close enough to the epicenter. He was in the house when it all happened." Marinette rubs her eyes, a couple of the others making sad noises, Rose in particular looking like she wants to go hug him, but they're all respecting him and Nino's moment.

"Oh god. That's terrible. I'm so sorry it happened, but I'm glad he remembers us." Alya sighs, relaxing against the chair, as Nino and Adrien separate, only for half their group to jump up and hug Adrien as well.

Adrien gives a happy laugh at that, hugging them all back to the best of his ability, "Hi, guys."

\---

School here is very different that school in Adrien's previous dimension, but honestly, he really likes it. He's got so much more time to hang out with his friends, and his classes are spaced out well, and he's still got all his classes with at least one friend. Marinette and Nino made him show them his schedule, so they could make sure of that, all of his friends helping him adjust to school life here.

He's just really grateful Gaige is a year older than him and in the next level up. The boy has been almost non-stop today, trying his hardest to seek Adrien out and be friends with him, a couple people here and there getting him to back down.

It becomes more of a problem at lunch, since his last class was an art class with Rose, Nathaniel, and Marc, and they're already on their way to their group's set of tables, when Gaige comes over.

"Primo! Hey, you should come sit with me for lunch!" Gaige beams at him, setting an arm on his shoulder.

Adrien shrinks back at that, looking over at his group's table, "I'm sitting with my friends today."

Gaige blinks at that, looking over at the table, before lighting up, "Oh, I could come sit with you, then! I'd love to meet all your friends."

"I'd rather you not." Adrien holds the strap of his bag, catching Luiza's eye a bit away, and giving her a looks that says 'help'.

"Nonsense. You're my cousin, and it's your first day at school, and I really want to meet your friends and hang out with you." Gaige beams at him, wiggling in his spot.

Adrien's shoulders sink with relief, when Luiza heads over to them, "I just want to eat with my friends, Gaige. Please, don't push."

Gaige blinks at that, before frowning softly, his aura sinking, "But, Adrien. I just want to hang out with you. I feel like you're avoiding me."

"And he has a right to, if you're clearly not listening to him." Luiza crosses her arms, glaring up at her brother, "Leave him alone, and stop harassing him."

Gaige's eyes narrow at that, turning and fixing her with a glare, his aura fizzling with anger, "I am not harassing him. I am his cousin, and I'm trying to be friends with him."

Luiza just sneers at that, eyes flicking to Adrien for a moment, while she talks, tilting her head in the direction of his friends, "It sounds like you're trying to guilt trip him, because you don't understand that he doesn't want to hang out with you right now."

Adrien watches her with a bit of confusion, before puzzling it out and giving her a grateful smile, turning and heading for his table, as they continue to argue behind him.

He settles down next to Nino, blinking when Alya sets down a huge dish in the middle of the table and everyone moves to get some food.

Nino looks over at him, then just chuckles softly and nudges his shoulder, "Yeah, lunch works differently here, dude. Everyone takes turns cooking on different days, and we sorta just all get our own food from the dishes. I'll tell you when it's our day to cook, and both Marinette and I will work on it with you."

"Thank you, Nino. You guys are the best." Adrien gives him a side hug, before moving to get some food as well.

Nino grins at that, hugging him back, "We know."

Alya just looks at where Adrien came from, giving out a sigh, "What are they arguing about today?"

"Ten notes say Luiza wouldn't help him with something." Alix leans over her bowl of food, watching them in amusement.

"I'll match that. Ten notes that Luiza was just minding her business, and Gaige said something rude." Nathaniel matches, munching on some of his food.

"It's kinda rude to bet on them." Marc says quietly from next to Nathaniel.

"Well we wouldn't be betting on them, if they would just stop yelling at each other all the time." Alix rolls her eyes.

Adrien just winces a bit at that, rubbing the back of his neck, "I don't think they will. Gaige has a bad habit of being way too friendly, and not understanding when people want to be left alone."

"You know the twins?" Alya settles down in her spot between Marinette and Nino.

"Yeah, they're my cousins here." Adrien sighs, moving onto his food.

"Ooh, maybe you know why they're always at each other's throats then." Alix turns to him aura curious.

Adrien looks back at her, then just sighs heavily, "Yeah. I don't know how much Luiza would want me to tell you about that though. I know why Luiza's upset with him at least. Gaige didn't believe her, when she said she didn't do something, and he never apologized for that, even when he did believe her, and he was very pushy on them being friends, until Luiza snapped at him for it. Now she's just being protective of me, because Gaige will not leave me alone. That's why they're yelling today."

"Yeah. I get that. Gaige has been in his new friend mode, and he really does need to take it down. I think Gaige has been angry with her since the practice room issue though." Marinette scrunches her nose, looking over at him, "I'm sorry he's being pushy."

"You're not the one that should be apologizing for it." Adrien grumbles, scooping up some of his food to eat.

Marinette nods her head, "I'll talk to him. He's more likely to listen to me than Luiza."

Adrien stills a bit at that, before giving Marinette a big eyed look, "You'd do that for me?"

Marinette stills in place, her cheeks turning red, and he can't quite read what she's feeling, "Y-Yeah. Gaige-Gaige normally listens to me."

"Thank you, Marinette. You're amazing." Adrien smiles softly at her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very OC heavy, and just sorta heavy in general. There is a mention of an OC that died in Luiza's past, and mentions of minor violence.

Luiza leans her back against the tree she's in and kicks her foot, just singing softly to herself. She feels bad. Her mom wanted to hang out with her this morning and watch a show, but Gaige came in first, and Luiza just, had to leave.

She's so tired of dealing with Gaige all the time, and she's used to being away from home as much as she possibly can anyway. She may head to the twenty four hour center and just sit in the cast room to write, until the set group gets there.

That is until her necklace heats up. Luiza groans and heads down to ground level, tapping her necklace and waiting.

Isis steps into her plane in an instance, "Hey, cuervita. There's a shadow out."

"Whose shadow?" Luiza shoves her hands in her skirt pockets, just grumpy again now.

"Jealousy."

Luiza groans at that, balling her fists up and moving to throw them at her sides, "Why can't he handle his own fucking shadows?!"

Isis just lets out a heavy sigh, moving to wrap an arm around her shoulders, "He's just hurt right now. He still won't talk to Rai."

"Then for the love of the afterlife, can Rai please, please choose someone else? I'm so tired of taking on Jealousy. I hate energy drops, so much, Isis. So much." Luiza opens and closes her fists, trying not to cry.

"I know, and I'm so sorry, cuervita, but Nash won't even hear it." Isis reaches out and strokes her hair.

"Then I'll make him. Where is he right now?" Luiza growls and turns on her heel, heading back for the house.

"He's not there, and you can't make someone hear you, Luiza." Isis follows after her, exasperation in her voice.

Luiza just grumbles and switches to her signature magic, looking for his signature among the others, "Like shit I can't make someone hear me. I will beat his fucking ass."

"Luiza, please don't. Ardan would be upset if you beat up his little brother."

"Ardan would agree with me." Luiza storms in the direction of his signature, irritated to find it close by and in the immediate vicinity of Gaige's and the rest of their group.

"He would not agree with you beating Nash up." Isis scolds and follows right after her.

"I'll apologize to him afterwards then, and he'll understand my reasoning was justified." 

"Luiza Estrella Lopez, you are not going to beat him up."

"I won't beat him up if he listens to me." Luiza calls back, marching on through the park, until she comes to the grassy section overlooking the river, finding their little group picnic immediately.

Isis remains silent, Luiza assuming she left. Luiza glares when she sees Rai pop up and settle down next to Nash, the group turning to see Luiza storming towards them, auras angry.

Luiza stops in front of Nash, fists balled up, "I'm giving you one fucking chance; either give me your earrings, or go take care of your fucking shadow"

"Luiza, you weren't invit-"

Luiza turns and glares down Gaige, "Shut up, before I place you under a fucking mental entrapment, and anyone else who starts talking. This is between me and Nash."

"I'm not giving you my earrings." Nash stands up and growls at her.

"Then deal with your fucking shadow. I'm done taking energy drops for you, because your whiny ass doesn't want to deal with your shadow, because you're still crying about your fucking father. Get over it and deal with your shadow, or give me the earrings so I can find someone who will." Luiza can feel the air around her fill with anger and indignation, Nash's aura close enough to pure anger to cause a shadow on his own, if he wasn't protected by Rai.

"You don't-You don't get to say that. He was my father." 

"Oh boo-fucking-hoo. I had to rip Isis's charm off my dead mother's charred corpse. You can get the fuck over yourself and either handle your shadow, or give me the charm." Luiza's lip curls up in anger, ignoring the shock in his aura, as he takes a step back.

"I-You-What?" 

"We're on a fucking time limit, rojito, and you have thirty seconds before I rip your earrings out of your ears." 

"Woah-" Gaige starts, cutting himself off when Luiza gives him an angry glare.

Nash just reaches up and covers his ears, "I- Fine. I'll handle the shadow, but you get to tell my mom if I die."

"Gladly. Let's get going." Luiza taps her necklace, storming off towards the trees again.

Nash just gulps, looking over at Rai, who winces a bit, before gently gesturing in her direction, Isis popping in and settling next to Luiza, waiting for her to give permission.

"You may possess me." Luiza nods to her, Isis stepping forward and phasing into her.

"Uh, Luiza? Are you coming with me or something?" Nash asks awkwardly, rubbing his arm, aura nervous.

"Fucking clearly. You've never fought a fucking shadow before. Do you think I just let everyone fight by themselves or some shit?" Cuerva bares her teeth at him, scrunching her nose at Isis calming her in the back of her mind and reminding her of the shadow, "Just, let Rai possess you. Who knows how much Jealously has wrecked already."

Nash makes an irritated noise at that, letting Rai possess him, before the two head off.

Cuerva sucks in a breath when she sees a familiar mop of blonde hair with a pair of cat ears nestled in it, and a pair of pigtails tied back with red ribbons already fighting the shadow, dropping down and raising a shield in front of them.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir." Cuerva sighs when she sees the cat ears go flat, offering them both a grateful smile, "Thank you for keeping the shadow busy, but do I need to remind you two that you cannot banish our shadows, or did I forget to mention it?"

The shadow gets angry at that, beating against the barrier. Ladybug just puffs up her cheeks, "You did not mention it, but I found it's akuma, or Chat found it's akuma. It's in the bracelet."

Cuerva nods her head at that, heading over and ruffling Chat Noir's hair, "Thank you, gatito. We'll take it from here. Please remind me to go over shadows as keepers with you. I forgot you wouldn't know how to deal with them while possessed."

Chat Noir melts, starting to purr a bit at the affection, before freezing and making an embarrassed noise, Cuerva looking at him, then giggling, "Adorable, primo."

Ladybug pouts at them for a minute, before wincing at the shadow screaming, "Okay, we're out. I'll text you."

Cuerva nods her head at that, tilting her head at Chat Noir to follow after the black haired girl. Chat Noir nods at that, bounding right after her.

"Who in the world are those two? There are only eight of us, and I've seen all but one of the others out already." Nash, Volf now, frowns at her. He took his father's name Luiza notes, trying not to let that make her sad.

"They're from another dimension that got merged with ours roughly a month ago. I'm handling that though. All I need you to focus on is helping me get the bracelet, then doing the banishment spell." Cuerva releases her shield, diving forward to attack the shadow.

Volf is pretty much no help at all, Cuerva fighting alone, so thankful Ladybug pointed out the bracelet, or this would've taken longer. She finally manages to get it, the possessed person slumping to the ground, while Cuerva delivers it to Volf, who just stares at it, before slowly taking it and getting up a banishment spell, banishing the shadow and reversing all the damage it did, including memories from the civilians involved.

Cuerva nods her head at that, scooping up the bracelet and plopping down in front of the previously possessed person, who's just now waking up, handing the bracelet to them, "Hello, there. If I may ask, what's made you so jealous?"

The person looks at her, then at the bracelet, slowly taking it back and groaning, "Ugg, my ex-best friend keeps flaunting that she got the guy I like to date her, and she's such an asshole about it. I just wanted him to notice me, but of course he didn't."

Cuerva nods her head softly at that, "It sounds like the girl is just an asshole. Why don't you block her?"

"I did, but she's showing up in all his social media, and somehow they keep finding where I am, and she always has to talk to me and flaunt him." They tug at their hair, tears in their eyes, "I'm so tired of it."

"Hmm, how about blocking his social media, and trying new places you've never been before?" Cuerva offers, hands settled in her lap.

"Ha, blocking his social media maybe, but I'm not giving up my favorite places for that bitch." They've got a bit of an amused aura now at least, rubbing their eyes.

"Just ideas. I'm not the best with these shadows. I've never been interested in people romantically." Cuerva sighs, watching people flood into the streets again, ignoring the two settled on the ground in the walkway.

"Woah, really? Are you ace or something?" The person tucks their legs under them.

"I don't know. Sometimes I wonder, but honestly it's kind of hard to be interested in people romantically, when you wonder each day whether or not you'll even be alive tomorrow." Cuerva looks over at her, giving her an awkward grimace, "Comes with the territory though. I much prefer being able to protect people, than having crushes anyway."

Their aura just gets a bit sad, nodding their head softly, "I guess that makes sense. It's kind of sad though. You're really young, aren't you?"

"People seem to think that." Cuerva shrugs, getting up from her spot and dusting off her skirt, before holding out a hand to help her up, "Anyway. I need to be heading off. I hope your day gets better."

"Thank you. Have a good day." The girl waves after her, looking around, before heading for a café.

Cuerva nods at that, raising an eyebrow when she sees Volf still there, "Job is done. You don't have to stick around. Go back to your stupid picnic thing, or whatever you were doing. Just be out next time Jealousy is."

He just stares at her, nose scrunched, confusion dripping from his aura, "Why did you stay to talk to the person?"

Cuerva stiffens a bit at that, moving and crossing her arms, "It's what Volf, or, well, your dad would do. He made it a habit of talking to the previously possessed to cheer them up, so I picked it up. They just sorta black out when they get possessed, and that's scary sometimes. We don't want them waking up from possession just to get possessed all over again."

Volf scrunches his nose at that, crossing his arms and looking away from her, "I'll remember that then. Thank you for fighting with me."

"Fighting for you more like. Please do me a favor and ask my brother to train you on how to fight. I'm gonna be pissed if you can't at least hold your own if I'm indisposed." Cuerva grumbles, extending her fans and making them non-lethal, before taking off, his aura growing irritated again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rojito = Roughly little red (Luiza calls him this because Nash has red hair)  
> Gatito = Kitten


	5. Chapter 5

"Luiza, hey. Do you want to come make lunch with me today? I kinda overhead Gaige saying Mona isn't here today, and he got Rey to sit with them, so he was going to coerce you into sitting with them as well." Adrien finds Luiza about an hour before lunch, when most everyone starts cooking, walking in place next to her.

Luiza blinks at that, before pinching the bridge of her nose, "That sounds like him. That would be lovely though, Adrien, thank you."

"Yeah, absolutely. You've saved me from him enough times. I thought I should return the favor." Adrien beams at her, "Do you have a class right now?"

"Technically, yes, but Prof. Inir will understand if I miss it. I'm pretty good on his class right now." Luiza shrugs, following him to the commons building where their lunch room is.

Several people are already in there, cooking in the different kitchen pods, when the two get there, the lunch room usually going in shifts. Adrien leads the way to where Marinette is marching in from the pantry with their ingredients, and Nino is waving them down, tilting his head at the two.

Adrien just smiles at him awkwardly, "Hey, is it okay if Luiza makes lunch and sits with us today? One of her friends is out sick, and Gaige is trying to use that as an advantage to jump her."

Nino blinks at that, before tilting his head from side to side, "Sure, dude. Prep should be easier with four of us at least. Luiza, how well do you cook?"

"Decent? I think. Though, if I eat gluten I'll end up in the hospital." Luiza rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, shoulders sinking, "Mona, Rey, and I usually eat lunch with Seña Jhaveri and the boys. They're kinda splitting off today though."

Marinette freezes for a moment, inspecting her ingredients, before nodding her head, "Well, we're not making anything with gluten. Just rice, veggies, and fish. Is that okay?"

"That should be fine. Thank you, Marinette." Luiza smiles and heads over to them, "So what do you need me to do?"

Marinette nods her head and sets the basket of veggies in the middle of the prep table, "I'm gonna get up the rice cooker, if you two want to start cutting the vegetables. Nino's cooking the fish, and I'll help you, once I've got the rice washed and set."

Luiza nods at that, moving to the cabinet to get a few cutting boards, then a drawer to get the knives for the veggies, happy when she can feel the enchantment on the knives to keep them from cutting skin by accident. 

She sets it all down on the counter, then smiles over at Adrien, "Want me to show you what we're doing?"

Adrien looks over at her, then nods his head enthusiastically, "Yes please. Mom and Father still won't let me in the kitchen."

Luiza scrunches her nose at that, nodding her head and starting in on the veggies, showing him how to cut them.

They settle down a little bit later, after cooking and bringing the food over to each of the tables. Luiza settles down next to Adrien, staying quiet and getting her food, well aware of Alya staring her down.

Adrien, Marinette, and Nino are just all chatting about a new video game, Luiza happy to tune into them, while she eats.

"Hey, Luiza." Luiza relaxes a bit, when she hears Marc's voice instead of Alya's, looking over at him and tilting her head. He just smiles at that, "Rey said you write sometimes. What do you write about?"

Luiza blinks at that, considering it for a moment, before rubbing the back of her neck, "Um, uh, fanfiction? Usually for Jiana of the Fifth Dimension. I, don't really write original work."

Marc grins at that, eyes lighting up, "Fanfiction can be original. I love Jiana of the Fifth Dimension. What kind of fanfiction do you write?"

"Ha, fluff really. I like exploring the different dimensions, and the characteristic of her being a dimension hopper, but I like to write day to day stuff the most." Luiza takes a bite of her food, smiling over at him.

"That's awesome! I'd love to read your work sometime. I don't often get to talk to other fanfiction writers in real life." Marc kicks his feet.

"That could be fun. What kind of fanfiction do you write?" 

"Well, actually, I don't think it's considered fanfiction anymore, but I write about a couple of heroes called Ladybug and Chat Noir, being helped by MightyIllustrator and Rewrite." Marc winces, his shoulders sinking, "I lost a lot of our stories though. Nath and I used to do comics together."

Luiza blinks at that, looking in between the two of them, "Oh, are you guys a part of the other dimension too?"

Half the table stills at that, their auras coloring with surprise, Alya narrowing her eyes at her, "How do you know about that?"

Luiza just scrunches her nose and fixes her with a glare, "Adrien didn't recognize me and Gaige the day after it happened and started talking about his father being Le Papillon, which honestly tracks. That man is an unstable mess, and I'm glad Tía Emilie agreed with me on them doing therapy. Regardless, unlike some people, I trust and believe my cousin."

Alya's aura gets grumpy at that, the girl starting to speak, before Adrien cuts her off with a shake of his head, "Luiza's been very helpful with getting me to feel better about the change, and she's the one that helped convince me to come to school and at least try to make friends with everyone again. If she didn't help, I would have never seen you guys again."

Alya looks at him, then just gives out a heavy sigh, taking a bite of her food and keeping her mouth shut.

Luiza nods her head at that, turning back to Marc, "Anyway, I know how to pull up memories and transfer them to a tablet, if you'd like help recovering your lost stories. Unfortunately, it only really works with text; I won't be able to bring back comics or pictures, but I can help bring back your stories"

Marc fully lights up at that, sitting upright in his seat, his eyes big, "You can do that?!"

Luiza looks over at him, then just softens, nodding her head, "Yeah, I can. I've had to do it a few times myself. We'll just have to sit down and do a headspace dive."

"That would be so helpful! Thank you so much, Luiza. What time would you be available to do one?" Marc beams at her, getting out his phone.

Luiza chuckles at that, moving to discuss it with him.

\---

Luiza's just laying out on Eliott's couch, a little more chill with the place, even when Marinette's there, because Marinette is not as mad at her anymore. She's just thinking to herself, wishing she could go across the hall on just plop down on her workbench next to Max again, while he explains in excited detail what they're working on today. 

She still takes on projects from his old clients from time to time, but being over there hurts when she doesn't have something to work on to distract her, and she's tired of Nash going off on her for taking over his space.

Marinette is just settled across from her on the other couch, quietly working on some extensive stitchwork she's been excited about. Eliott's at his station working with his sewing machine right now. It's peaceful. It's not going to last, Luiza knows it. Something's going to break her peace, and she just wants to lay here and be sad right now.

"Papi! Do you know where Luiza is?!" Gaige's voice calls out.

Marinette is up in a second, dropping her stitchwork and throwing fabric over Luiza, before he can get in the room, Luiza making a confused noise at that, but not really reacting past that.

"Mijo, if she doesn't want to talk to you, then you need to leave her alone, until she does." Eliott grumbles, stopping his machine, Marinette still throwing fabric on Luiza, like she's looking for something, Luiza kinda grateful for it.

Gaige's voice gets closer, the boy sounding grumpy, "I need to talk to her about what she did to Nash last week. She really upset him, and she's forcing him to take on Jealousy from now on."

"Gaige, I swear. If you sit on my fabric, then I'm going to kick your ass." Marinette grumbles at him, another layer of fabric falling on Luiza, Luiza imagining Gaige holding up his hands.

"Luiza had a very good reason for that, and you know it. You and I both know how much those energy drops upset her. I've been trying to get him to give up his charm since Max and the others disappeared, so I'm glad he's made a decision at least." Eliott sighs to himself, the familiar sound of his stool swiveling sounding out, "Leave her alone about it."

"But, Papi, you weren't there! She was such a jerk to him." 

"I understand she could've been nicer to him, but I was about to be a jerk to him, if she came back here sobbing after another energy drop, and I'm not the one that had to deal with them, or is traumatized by energy drops, so leave your sister alone, or so help me, I will ground you. Do you understand me, Gaige?" 

"Sí, Papi. I'm still upset with her though." Gaige groans, Marinette making an aha noise in the background, before there's a plop like she sat back down on the couch.

"You're entitled to your feelings, mijo, but please stop being mean to your sister. She doesn't deserve it, and I'm really tired of hearing about your screaming matches. And trust me, I've talked to her about them too. She's working on it with her therapist, and I talked to yours about it as well." Eliott's voice is just exhausted, the sound of his chair swivelling again ringing out.

"She keeps starting them! Like just this morning at our photoshoot with Adrien, I was just trying to ask him to hang out with me afterwards, and she kept telling me he didn't want to hang out with me, even though Adrien never said so himself." Luiza can feel him seething from under the fabric, "It's like she doesn't want me to be friends with him for some reason."

"Cariño, I know you just want to be friends with Adrien, but from what I'm hearing, you're doing that thing your mother does, where you're way too invested in it. Adrien is dealing with things you and I will never understand, and he needs some time to get adjusted to it. I'm certain he's told you no, just in his own way, and you're not listening because you don't want to." 

"I am not!" Gaige gives out and indignant squeak, and Luiza can practically feel Marinette rolling her eyes.

"Yes you are. Adrien is just too nice to tell you outright that you're being too much. It's a problem he had in our dimension, and it's certainly followed him here. I can't count how many times Nino, Alya, and I had to save him from you being extra friendly and half forcing him to talk to you." Marinette snorts, a bit of annoyance undertoning it, "I told him I'd talk to you about it, but I'm glad Eliott and Luiza are already doing so too."

Gaige stays quiet for a moment, Eliott starting his sewing machine again.

"Does-does that mean he doesn't want to be friends anymore?" Gaige's voice is quiet and insecure, Luiza groaning internally at the question.

"No, Gaige. That's not what it means. It means that Adrien has things going on, and he needs time to focus on them and heal, and he needs to do that in his own way. For him, it seems like he wants friends from our dimension. Nino says he seems to blame himself for what his father did, and Emilie, Emilie wasn't alive in our dimension. He's getting used to that too." Marinette's voice is sad, her own guilt mixing with her words, "I'm doing what I can to help, but I-I'll never understand how that feels, so all I can do is listen to Adrien, and ask what he wants and what I can do. You should think about doing the same. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

Gaige seems to think on the for a while, the room going silent again, aside from the intermittent sounds of the sewing machine going. Luiza slowly going back to missing Max.

"Do you think I should do that with Luiza too?" Gaige's voice is quiet, sounding out in the silence between Eliott's sewing, the machine staying quiet for a minute, no one responding to him, so he continues, "I mean, I know she's always angry with me, and she just feels so angry all the time, and I don't know what happened to make her so angry all the time, and I get that I was, an asshole, after everything happened with our bio-father, and that wasn't her fault. I just, she won't listen to me, and she won't stay still long enough for me to just talk to her, and we're supposed to be twins. It doesn't feel like we are."

His voice sounds a little wobbly towards the end, the sound of Eliott getting up from his seat sounding out, "Mijito, I know things are rough there. She's going through a lot right now. And we need to- Eeep!"

Eliott sits on her halfway through whatever speech he was making, Luiza making a pained noise and hitting him through the fabric.

"Mamá! I'm still here! Stop crushing me!" Luiza shouts out, trying to move him, though she's getting tangled in the fabric.

Eliott jumps up at that, "Oh restida! I'm so sorry, mija! I didn't know you were still here!"

Luiza just flails around in the fabric, trying to get it off, someone moving to help her, "I'm still here. Marinette just went on a rampage with her fabric, and I didn't feel like moving."

Marinette giggles a little at that, somewhere nearby, "Sorry, Luiza."

Luiza finally gets free of the fabric, her curly hair getting so frizzy, as she pouts, "It would've been fine if someone didn't sit on me."

Eliott giggles a bit at that, moving to kiss her forehead, "I'm sorry, mija. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was comfy, and didn't care about fabric, then Gaige came in, and I didn't want to talk to him, and then you sat on me." Luiza puffs up her cheeks, Marinette gathering up her fabrics and starting to fold them.

Eliott sighs at that, patting her head, "Fair. I'm going to go back to sewing. I'm sorry we interrupted your nap."

Luiza nods her head at that, moving to help Marinette with the fabric instinctively, kind of ignoring Gaige, who's just a little embarrassed and tucked away in the corner of the couch.

The two clear up the fabric, Marinette going back to her project, while Luiza just lays back on the couch, closing her eyes again.

Gaige, for once, doesn't say anything to her, instead he just looks over at Marinette, starting to talk about their aerial manifestation performance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seña/o = Señora/o = Mrs. or Mr.   
> Mija/o = My daughter/son
> 
> Jiana of the Fifth Dimension is another story of mine I haven't quite put on paper yet. It's a cartoon series in this story though.  
> Gaige calling Eliott Papi and Luiza calling them Mamá is on purpose. Eliott is genderfluid.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter, mostly in case anyone wants to skip it. It's basically just explaining where Lila is and a bit to do with her and Luiza.  
>  **Warning for this chapter:** Mentions of murder in self defense, Mild description of a PTSD episode, Implied/Referenced child abuse

Luiza's tired. They had an early morning shoot, and the stupid photographer was trying to put makeup over her burn scar, so she ended up arguing with him over it for about thirty minutes, and Emilie ended up having to come down and tell him off, before they could finally just move on and actually do the fucking shoot, the photographer giving up by putting her in something with sleeves. Luiza didn't argue that, just because she was too done already.

Gaige was quiet the whole time, thankfully, splitting off from her and Adrien the minute they get to school. Luiza just walks Adrien to his next class, before deciding to skip hers, heading up to the top floor of the commons building and finding Marc and Nathaniel at a table in their group's normal corner. She just curls up in a chair near them and naps.

The two don't disturb her, they just let her be, Luiza napping for a few hours, and only waking up when she feels the sharp sting of manipulation magic, her muddled brain waking her and pushing her back, the image of her father popping up in her mind, as she wakes up with a start.

"No! Stop it! I didn't even do anything wrong this time!" Luiza cries out, eyes big and scared, her mind recreating her father's apartment, the man nodding his head at his friends, someone taking her hands and Luiza starts sobbing, "No, no! Stop, please! Please stop! I didn't do anything wrong! I did what you asked me to!"

"Luiza, Luiza. Hey, you're okay. You're here at school. No one's hurting you. No one is trying to. We had a photoshoot this morning, remember?" Adrien's voice gets through her brain, green eyes boring into hers, "He's not here anymore, Luiza. You were just dreaming. Just a dream. You're here. You're safe. Everything is okay."

Luiza's still crying, looking around frantically, before her surroundings start to look like school again, Adrien's group of friends all stilled and giving her worried looks, Adrien himself just holding her hands and rubbing the backs of them.

"There we are. Are you back, prima?" Adrien smiles softly at her. 

Luiza nods her head slowly, moving to rub her eyes with one hand, "Sorry."

"Hey, if you won't let me apologize for an episode, then you don't get to apologize for one either." Adrien snorts, flicking her forehead lightly, "It's not your fault."

Luiza chuckles lightly at that, nodding her head and squeezing his hand, "Thank you, primo."

Adrien nods his head, reaching out to ruffle her hair, "I've got you."

Luiza smiles, moving to her back to get out a tissue, while the others seem to go back to talking, Nino coming over to the two and sitting down in an extra chair, giving Luiza a bit of a half smile, "PTSD episode?"

Luiza nods her head at that, clearing her face, before blowing her nose, "Yeah. I haven't had one in a while."

"It's all good my dude. We all get them anymore." Nino pats her shoulder.

Luiza nods and just listens to the people talk, pulling out an oddly familiar voice in the group, letting out a heavy sigh when she recognizes it.

"Rebel Rosario. It's been too long." The brunette girl comes over to her, kicking one foot over the other, as she settles down on the couch, Alya right after her, Marinette settling on Alya's other side and looking very annoyed.

"Lila Rossi. I'm only going to say this to you once, so listen carefully. Never ever call me by that name again. My name is Luiza Lopez. This is your one free pass." Luiza leans forward in her chair, irritated but overall not angry. She never got her real name in the first place.

Lila stills a bit at that, aura even as always, though a little intimidated, "Oh, am I using female pronouns for you now as well then?"

Luiza nods her head, relaxing against her chair, "Yes, please and thank you."

"I will keep that in mind." Lila crosses her legs, watching her careful, "So how is everything going with you and your father?"

Adrien winces a bit next to Luiza, while Luiza's honestly just tired, catching the bit of malice in her words, "If you're looking for revenge, then you're about eight months too late. He's dead now."

Alya raises an eyebrow at that, looking between the two with a curious aura that could rival Cerise's, though she keeps quiet. 

Lila's eyes just seem to spark with delight, clearly faking her aura of concern, "Oh, well I'm sorry for that. No matter what happened, I didn't wish him ill will."

"Bullshit. You and I both know you're delighted to hear it, and I don't blame you a single bit." Luiza rolls her eyes, leaning her head on hand.

Lila watches her for a moment, before just shrugging her shoulders, "You caught me. I'm happy he's dead, though I really want to know how he died."

Luiza nods her head at that, giving off a heavy sigh, "Yeah, you deserve that much. I shot him through the heart, with his own gun. He was trying to kill one of my moms and bind the other to him."

Lila's eyes glitter at that, tapping her fingers against her leg, "Killed by his own daughter with his own gun, beautiful. I hope he remembers it in his next life."

Alya's aura is just shocked, the girl looking in between the two of them, "Woah, what? Luiza, you killed your father? And Lila, why are you so happy about that?"

Luiza looks over at Lila, then gestures for her to answer, already too tired to handle this.

"Oh with pleasure. Luiza's father was the worst human being on this earth. He killed my father, and was terribly abusive towards Re-Luiza. He kept trying to cause a war between his terrorist group and another. All sorts of evil stuff. I'm glad Luiza killed him, because that means he's not hurting her now, and my previous life goal to put him in jail is null and void." Lila's aura is a fake protectiveness, and she's clearly leaving out some details, but honestly, Luiza doesn't care what kind of stories she tells them, so long as she doesn't bother her.

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry you two. That's a lot." Alya looks between them, aura genuinely sad and a bit pitying.

Luiza just shrugs her shoulders, scrunching her nose at the girl, "It happened. It's done now. Keep up that pitying attitude, or try to bring it up again, and I'll go into detail about just how much shit you've gone through. Got it?"

Alya glares over at her for a moment, before sighing and nodding her head, "Okay, fair. Anyway, what's your life like in this dimension, Lila?"

Lila blinks, before lighting up and telling them all about it, Luiza snorting a little at the different falsities and few clearly made up things intertwined with her actual reality, but really she doesn't care, so she doesn't point it out, just chilling in her chair, Adrien moving to squish in the seat with her.


	7. Chapter 7

Luiza's just minding her own business in the aerial manifestation gym at the twenty-four hour center today, having reserved the time for her own practices during the day finally, instead of just coming in late at night to practice.

She's going through one of her routines for a song she'd never do at competitions, when someone slams the doors open, startling Luiza off of her manifestation. Luiza hits the drop enchantment on the floor and bounces back up, landing on her feet. She makes an irritated noise, manifesting a stairway back up and glaring down the person who interrupted her.

"Marinette. Why are you here? This is a closed practice."

Marinette just looks at her guiltily, "I'm so sorry, Luiza. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just. Something happened. Tikki came running into my room shouting about feeling something off, and then she disappeared again, and now she won't come back when I call her." 

Luiza just lets out a heavy sigh, all the energy sinking away from her already, as she taps on her locket, "Isis, do you know what's going on with Tikki?"

Isis steps into their plane, her aura scared, "She said she felt something weird, then popped into this plane, and we haven't seen her since, and Plagg is panicking because he can't feel her. He ran off to find his keeper. I don't know what's going on."

Luiza closes her eyes, trying to think of what Max would do in this situation, "Ugg, Marinette, can you still feel the enchantment on your earrings?"

Marinette reaches up and feels them, then nods, "Yes, I can."

"And she's not responding to the tapping? Isis says it gives them headaches."

"No, she's not." 

Luiza looks over at Isis, "And she's nowhere on your plane, at all?"

"She's not. I can't feel her signature there." Isis reaches up and tugs on her hair, aura anxious and worried, "They aren't from here. What if, what if the universe is correcting that?"

"I doubt it. The universe didn't correct it when they entered, and the magic that brought them over was stronger than the magic on your plane, according to An. It's more likely if it's correcting things, then it's giving them shadows, which would be a real pain in the ass, but at least you guys have dealt with something similar, if less deadly." Luiza grumbles, moving to get her bag and disconnect her music, "Someone give me her signature. I'll see if I can track her down on this plane."

Isis nods and displays it for her, before Luiza hears a shadow alert on her phone. She growls at that, snatching the signature from Isis, "Please go back to your plane and tell me which one."

Isis gives a single nod and steps back into her plane, while Luiza switches to her signature magic, pulling up the signature line and sighing in relief while it connects.

"Good news is she's on this plane, which means I can track her. Come on." Luiza gestures for Marinette to follow her.

Marinette nods and follows after her, tapping her fingers anxiously, "You don't think she's hurt, is she? And Isis, what if Isis is right?"

"She's not right. She's just scared. She's not an all knowing being. She's just been around for a long time. She's gotten rather attached to your guardians, and she doesn't want to lose new friends so soon." Luiza keeps after the line, which is stretched thin enough to make her think she's across town, "Heads up; we're in for a bit of a walk."

Marinette just focuses on breathing, before looking over at Luiza, "How do you know that?"

Luiza just grumbles and pinches the bridge of her nose, "Because I know Isis. I've known her a very long time now. She's doing that thing she does, when she doesn't actually know what's going on, so she focuses on the worst case scenario. And it's rarely ever the worst case scenario."

Marinette just reaches up and tugs on her ponytail, "What do we do if it is the worst case scenario?"

"Mourn and do whatever we can to stop the same thing from happening to the others." Luiza sighs, looking back at Marinette, "But we don't know what happened yet. I can still feel her signature. Worst case scenario; we get there just as she fades away. Best case scenario; we get there and she's just fine, apologizes and tells us what happened. Most likely scenario; we get there, and there is something wrong, but it's something like a shadow and we just need to banish the shadow, and free Tikki, and she'll be back with you again."

Marinette nods slowly to that, holding her hands to her, "So in two out of three, Tikki is okay?"

"Yes. Those are the odds." Luiza focusses back on Tikki's signature, keeping on their path.

Marinette seems to accept that, her aura calming a little, as she steps in time with Luiza, "Okay, we've got this. You think Tikki's got a shadow developing?"

Luiza sighs heavily, running a hand through her hair, "I'm worried Tikki's got a shadow developing. It would make sense for them to start developing them, since they're sharing the same plane as the guardians, rather than their own plane, like the shadows have."

"That means all of us would have to be in action, wouldn't it?" Marinette tucks her hands in her pockets.

"Yes, yes it would. I'm just hoping I'm not right and somehow the shadows learned how to tug at them, or something stupid like that." Luiza reaches up and massages her temples, "New shadows would mean new rules, and we'd have to figure out how the new shadows work, and banishment on our shadows only lasts a week. It doesn't work if it's any longer for some stupid reason, and thankfully everyone's watching auras right now, but if it's different, then we're fucked for several months. There are like nineteen of you."

Marinette just reaches over and sets a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, we've got this. I know it's irritating, but whatever happens, you're not doing it alone." 

Luiza sucks in a breath at that, eyes getting a little misty, "I-okay. Okay. Thank you, Marinette."

Marinette nods her head at that, giving her an awkward smile, "You know, I used to be jealous, when we first got here, of you having Isis and clearly having such a handle on this, but you really are pretty much doing this alone, aren't you?"

Luiza's shoulders drop at that, her veins filling with sorrow, "I didn't used to. I mean, I had other problems then, but I used to have Seño Max. He stepped in the minute Malice's shadows started popping up again, when I moved here from Esña. But since he and the others… well, they disappeared after a particularly bad group of shadows did something that made their bodies either disintegrate or disappear entirely, I don't know yet. Since then I've been doing this alone. I had to find new keepers for everyone, and I finally got Volf to take on his fucking shadow, but I really miss Seño Max, there with me every battle."

Luiza blinks back a few tears, Marinette rubbing her shoulder soothingly, "Was he your mentor?"

"Something like that." Luiza sighs, pushing away those thoughts for now, as she marches on, "Come on, we need to go find your guardian."

Marinette watches her for a moment, before sighing softly and nodding, following right after her.

Isis catches up with them a bit later, chewing her lip, "Nobody on the plane has a shadow out right now."

"Either a mis-call or Tikki then." Luiza sighs, happy to feel the line getting shorter, and just groaning when she hears the sounds of fighting, "Probably Tikki. Mami, mind possessing me?"

Isis nods, stepping into her, Marinette blinking at that, "Oh, wow. That's a lot different than what we do."

Cuerva just raises an eyebrow at her, before deciding to ignore it, heading into the main street. A woman with bright red and black hair and light brown skin is floating off the ground, her skin pulsing black along her veins, and her eyes are pure black themselves. 

She's going around and attacking different people, hitting them with a beam that seems to do different things depending on the person it hits. One person goes floating, when they get hit, while another turns into butterflies. Chat Noir is already out there fighting.

Cuerva leans down and whispers to Marinette, "Is that Tikki under the possession?"

Marinette just nods her head, holding her hands to her, "Does she look like she's dying?"

"No, she looks possessed. Let me go help Chat Noir. Your charm is earrings, right?" Cuerva looks her over, Marinette just nodding her head, "Good. Stay here. We should be able to bring her out of the possession."

With that, Cuerva takes off for the possession, settling down next to Chat Noir, "Hey, primo. Tikki's keeper confirmed that this is her. She just looks possessed. If we can get a hold of her earrings, we should be able to clear the shadow from them, and it's a new one. I want to talk to it first though. Back me up if it starts swinging."

Chat Noir looks up at that, looking over at her, then nodding his head, "I've got you. Do you think she's producing the shadow somehow?"

Cuerva winces at that, nodding her head, "I do."

Chat Noir gives a sigh at that, the two diving in. Cuerva just holds up her fans and calls out to the shadow, "Hi there! Who do I have the pleasure of fighting today?"

The shadow turns towards her, glimmering with just an aura of chaos, "Ah, hello little miss. I am Chaos. May I have your name?"

"I mean, you already have a name, don't you? Why do you need mine?" Cuerva snorts, eyes flicking to Chat Noir, as she gives him a nod, the two rushing the shadow.

"That is a delightfully chaotic answer. I like you, little feathered one." Chaos beams at her, shooting their ray at her and Chat Noir, Cuerva pulling up a shield to block.

Cuerva doesn't talk after that, just going at them and trying to get the earrings. Chat Noir succeeds in getting them first, before handing them to Cuerva. Cuerva just takes them and starts on a banishing spell, starting to feel the energy sap out of her, until Chat Noir comes over, bubbling it with her and trying to copy what she's doing. 

The earrings only dissipate in the bubble, concerning Cuerva a bit, since possessed objects usually fall out. Regardless, smoke starts to fill the bubble like usual, slowly turning white, before shrinking in the bubble, the bubble popping and sending out a spell that fixes all the damage done, including memories. Cuerva sighs in relief at that, looking over at Tikki, who seems to be waking up, the girl looking around, her eyes getting big and watery.

"What-what happened?"

"Tikki!" Marinette bolts from where she was hiding, barreling the curly haired girl in a hug, "You're okay! How are you feeling? Are you hurt? What happened?"

Tikki stills in her spot, before relaxing a bit and hugging her back tightly, "Marinette! I'm okay. I'm not hurt. I just, don't remember what happened. Something felt wrong, and then I went to talk to you, and I don't remember what happened."

Cuerva just heads over to them, plopping down in front of them, "You were possessed. A new possession, calling themselves Chaos. I think you may have given birth to them in a sense."

Tikki blinks at that, before nodding her head slowly, "That would make sense. I was creation before."

Cuerva smiles softly at that, "We'll just have to keep an eye on you then."

Tikki looks over at her, then just flat out giggles at that, "Thank you, Cuerva."

"You're welcome. Let's get out of the street now. I'm sure Plagg's worried about you, and we need to talk. Marinette, do you mind if Plagg and his keeper join us?" Cuerva stands, holding out a hand to Tikki, helping her up.

Marinette blinks at that, looking like she forgot Chat Noir was there, she gives a sheepish smile at that, nodding her head, "It's kinda about time we did identities anyway. Do you want to come with us, Chat Noir?"

His eyes get big at that, nodding his head slowly, "You want to know?"

"Yes, absolutely." Marinette snorts and heads over to him, bumping his shoulder, "It's not dangerous here, and I've always wanted to know. I just wanted us to be safe."

He just starts purring, causing Cuerva to snort at him, turning on her heel and speaking first, "Come on guys. We'll talk at my place. Mamá knows what's going on, and I think it's good for her to know who you guys are, if anything happens, so someone not involved knows. She won't rat you out to your parents, Chat Noir. I promise."

Chat Noir grins awkwardly at that, "I know she won't."


	8. Chapter 8

Luiza's settled on the table in the common's room in the alternate universe club's corner, Luiza an honorary member now just because she knows what's going on and has been helping everyone out with it. She and Nino are both just staring at Adrien, the two getting nowhere with him.

"Primo, that girl absolutely adores you. What in that big brain of yours make you think she doesn't?" Luiza's got her hands pressed together and is leaning her chin on them.

Nino just gestures rapidly to Luiza, Adrien pouting at the two.

"Look, I know you guys are trying to help me out here, but I already know she likes someone else, and I'm sorta tired of getting rejected, and I want to respect her space."

Nino just throws his head back and groans, "The person she likes is you! She likes you! She has for years!"

"Just because she used to have a crush on me, does not mean she still does." Adrien gives Nino a pointed look.

Luiza just groans, trying to wrack her brain for any way to get through to him, pressing her fingers to her temples, "I don't- I don't understand the whole romance thing. I don't get this. Is it something that if you like someone, then your brain does whatever it can to convince you they don't like you? Is this a you thing, or is this everybody? I'm so far out of my depth here."

Nino just gives her a pitying look, "I couldn't tell you. Alya asked me out the minute she thought she liked me, and we've been dating ever since. Past that, I'm normally a mess with girls."

"No, Luiza, I tried to ask her out, so many times, all as Chat Noir unfortunately. And I know she moved on, because she doesn't do that cute stuttery blushy thing around me anymore. We're friends, and that's it." Adrien sighs, looking directly at her.

Luiza makes a face before groaning, "You know what, Gaige knows more about this shit. He's dating someone. I'm sure he can help. Come on. We're going to go talk to him."

"Luiza, I don't need to talk to him. I already know she doesn't like me." Adrien groans, getting up and following her, Nino doing the same.

"You may know it, but I need to talk to him, because I don't understand, and I'm trying to, and Nino doesn't know either, so Gaige should know." Luiza hits her fist on her hand decisively.

Adrien just raises an eyebrow at that, before shrugging his shoulders, "Okay, if it's to help you understand."

Nino's just along for the ride it seems, Luiza leading the way down to the second floor of the commons room, where Gaige's group usually hangs out, knowing he doesn't have a class right now. She's got a good amount of his schedule memorized from avoiding him.

She checks for Marinette when she gets in the room, nodding when she just sees Gaige on one of the couches, working on something on his own, Rapunzel snuggled into his side, and Nash drawing next to him, Cerise in her own chair off to the side and chatting with Jasmine.

She leads to way over there, plopping down on the coffee table in front of Gaige, "Gaige, we need your help."

Gaige jumps a bit at that, the whole group seeming to focus on her, Adrien coming to sit next to her, rolling his eyes. Gaige just stares at her with big eyes, slowly putting down his tablet, "You need my help?"

"Yeah, you understand like love and crushes and shit, right?" Luiza waves her hands awkwardly.

"Somewhat, yeah. Do you have a crush on someone?" Gaige sits up in his spot, putting away his tablet and giving her his full attention.

Luiza snorts at that, shaking her head, "Ha, no. Adrien's got a huge crush on Marinette, and for some reason he thinks she doesn't like him, when she clearly does, and I don't understand why. Adrien has been no help, stating she likes someone else, like he can't see her aura, and Nino's got no clue either. So I was hoping you could help. Is this a normal thing?"

Gaige just stares at her for a good moment, aura filling with amusement, and he's clearly trying not to laugh, biting his lip, "I-Okay, that's relatively normal, yes. It's an anxiety thing more than anything."

"Okay, anxiety thing. I can handle anxiety thing." Luiza nods her head and turns to look at Adrien, "Alright. Worst case scenario, you're right and she's got a thing for someone else. We get you a bowl of ice cream and watch bad anime for the rest of the night. Best case scenario, she asks you to get married on the spot and you run off to go get married and scare the shit out of Tío Gabriel. Most likely scenario, she fucking adores you and you end up dating the minute you ask her out." 

"I-Okay. You know what, maybe, but I get to tell you I told you so if she says no, and you two better clear your schedules to comfort me." Adrien frowns back at her, Luiza catching and ignoring a whispered 'that worked?' in the background.

"Deal. She's about to get out of class right now, right?" Luiza jumps up from the table, when Adrien nods his head, "Alright, let's go then."

"Wait, now? I don't even have any roses or chocolate!" Adrien squeaks, jumping up after her, Nino trailing right after the two and snorting.

"No time for it. I just got you to agree, and we are getting this done so I can start teasing you for being mushy instead of a mess." Luiza leads her way right out the door, leaving a very confused group behind.

Gaige just bursts out into laughter when they leave, Cerise just staring after the group in confusion, "What, just happened?"

"I have no clue, but now I'm emotionally invested. Anyone want to follow them?" Jasmine grins, picking up her bag and getting up.

"Absolutely." Rapunzel jumps up from her spot, the others right after them.

Luiza, Adrien, and Nino get to the general building right as Marinette's class gets out, Luiza catching the bob of a black ponytail and shouting out to her, "Hey, Marinette! Over here! Adrien has something to ask you!"

Marinette's head snaps in their direction, right along with Alya, Rose, and Juleka's, the other three girls just lighting up and nudging her in their direction, a few others from their club noticing and making their way over.

Adrien makes a nervous noise at that, leaning closer to Luiza, "Luiza, there are so many people."

"Yeah, we're in a school." Luiza just raises an eyebrow at him.

His face is so red, aura anxious, "I don't want to make a fool of myself."

"Then just a simple, easy, 'hey do you want to go out with me?' No way to make a fool out of yourself." Luiza offers him a smile, bumping his shoulder gently, Marinette and the others getting closer, "You got this."

Adrien looks at her, then nods his head once, "Okay, I got this."

Luiza nods, both her and Nino nudging him forward. Marinette holds her tablet to her chest and smiles up at him, "Hi, kitty. What did you need to ask me?"

Adrien sucks in a breath at that, looking back at Luiza and Nino, the two giving him a pair of dorky thumbs up, before turning back to Marinette, "I, um, Marinette, will you out the go with me? Wait, no, um will you go the out with me? No, go out. Do-do you want to go out, with me?"

Marinette just lights up, giving out a little giggle and nodding her head, "I'd love to out the go with you."

Adrien blinks at that, straightening a little bit, "Wait, yes?"

"Yes." Marinette beams at him, "I've been trying to ask you for a while."

Adrien's eyes shine, smiling right back at her, "Okay. Okay. I've got a bunch of date ideas already. What days are you free?"

Marinette doesn't even have a chance to answer, the whole hallway bursting into cheers, pretty much all the club lighting up.

"Finally! We've been trying to get you two together forever!" Alya shouts, coming over and wrapping an arm around Marinette.

"I'm so happy you two, but that was the most awkward asking out I've ever seen." Alix snorts, grinning at them.

Adrien blinks at the group cheering in the hallway, most of the others moving to congratulate them, "Uh, so how long has this been a thing?"

"Since we were fourteen, dude." Nino comes over and wraps an arm around Adrien, "We placed bets on you two."

"And I know someone had before we turned eighteen somewhere, so I owe money to someone." Alya sighs, looking around for Max.

Luiza snorts at that, just amused by the chaos, waving when Gaige and his group come over, "What's up?"

"We came to see the aftermath. Why does it look like everyone's having a party?" Jasmine looks around, one eyebrow raised.

"From the sounds of it; they've been doing this for roughly four years now, so their whole group got very excited to see them get together finally." Luiza snorts, just happy to see Adrien's loving and happy aura, the boy taking Marinette's hand, as Kim comes over to tease them.

"Honestly, that's kind of awesome. They're all excited about it." Cerise leans her arm on Jasmine's shoulder.

"I still can't believe that actually worked to get him to ask her out." Rapunzel snorts, looking over at the two.

Gaige just has a bright aura, as he watches his cousin, "Well, I'm glad it did. He looks happy."

Luiza nods her head in agreement, "Thank you for your help. I don't quite understand romantic things, and I hate seeing him so dejected."

Gaige looks over at her, then grins and moves to stand next to her, "And I was the first person you thought of to ask?"

Luiza blinks at that, giving him a confused look, "Um, yes? You're dating Rapunzel, so clearly you understand something about romance."

Gaige chuckles at that, nodding his head, "Point. Still amused by the way you responded to that."

"Look, I don't understand the whole romantic feelings, crush thing. Never have, so I went to someone who did. It's not weird." Luiza crosses her arms and grumbles at him.

"It's a little weird." Gaige teases, nudging her arm when she pouts, "But that's okay. I'm always here to help if you need it."

Luiza blinks at that, before ducking her head and rubbing the back of her neck, "Thanks."

"Of course. What else are annoying twin brothers for?" Gaige grins at her.

Luiza just rolls her eyes at that, checking the time and scrunching her nose, "Ugg, I have class. Primo! Congrats! I've got to head out! I'll walk you home so you can gush later, okay?"

Adrien blinks at that, turning to look at her, then just chuckles and nods his head, "I'll see you then, Luiza! Thank you!"

Luiza just nods her head, turning on her heel and heading out to her next class.


End file.
